I do not own nor profit from Star Trek or Gene Roddenberrys creations.
Safiya sighed as she looked over some transmissions they were recieving on the bridge.
"Captain, something is coming at us at warp." Sulu announced, remarking that it was not coming from Klingon space. In Jim's eyes, she saw the fear, and the understanding as he ordered shields up. The bridge was confused, but followed the captains orders, prepping the ship in a defensive position.
A large black ship dropped out of warp before them. The quickened heartbeats of the crew were nearly audible as nobody made a noise. All eyes were just focused on the unmarked vessel. All save for Safiya, who had watched a lot of this ship be built in the secret outpost behind Jupiter. She knew what advancements there were on board, and that it would be suicide to stay and fight. However, with such a badly damaged ship, it would be just as useless to run.
"Captain, that would be the Admiral." Safiya finally spoke, breaking the tension. The bridge looked towards her.
"Theyre hailing us sir." Sulu announced, and put the transmission on shipwide as ordered.
She watched the exchange, the admiral brash and bold, as the young captain refused to back down. He had no clue what he was getting into, but he was ready to fight for his crews freedom. Marcus made it clear to the captain that he had no intention of letting the Enterprise return to Earth. With that, the screen went black, and the devastation was written on Jim's face.
"I'm Sorry." He said quietly, unable to fathom letting down his entire crew. He only had one option left. Try to warp home. He commed Chekov who had been working in engineering, and confirmed that, it was possible to warp home, but would likely destroy the warp core in the process. It was a risk Jim was willing to take.
Safiya stabilized herself as they went into warp speed.
"Jim, you won't be able to outrun them." She said, hoping to catch the captains ear.
"What are you talking about?" We are at warp, they can't catch up with us." He breathed, as if trying to reassure himself.
"In a regular craft, he wouldn't be able to, but Jim, I worked on that ship, and I know they can catch up to us." She begged.
It was Sulu who confirmed her statements, as he was unable to fathom the readings he was getting, having never seen something like it so far. They were jacked around the bridge as they were shot out of warp speed.
Carol came running onto the bridge. "I need to talk to him, please, I can try to save the ship." She cried, as Sulu hailed the Vengeance. The admirals face appeared, as he looked upon his daughter. Carol begged her father to spare the crew.
"Please, dad, I don't believe that the man who raised me is capable of destroying an entire ship and her crew" A tear fell.
"I can." Safiya snapped, catching the attention of the Admiral.
"Well... Shit. I didn't realize you'd both be there. I was hoping this day would never come." He shook his head and sighed, his age showing on his face. Both Carol and Safiya were surrounded in gold rings. Carol screamed as she tried to run, but Safiya just stood there, waiting to be brought aboard the Vengeance.
Jim had just lost two of his crew to the Admiral, and he intended on getting them back. This was the moment he needed from Khan. To get him onto that ship, and to get him to that ships bridge so he could apprehend Marcus and bring him to justice.
It was with luck that Scotty had snuck onto that ship, and it gave Jim and Khan a fighting chance to capture the ship.
They prepped for their jump, ready to take back what they deemed as theirs.
"What are you doing here?" Carol turned and came face to face with Safiya. She appeared livid.
"Why don't you ask the Admiral, Carol, since he is the one that brought us here." She spat, her arms quickly grabbed by a large man. "Get off of me, you don't have to manhandle me. I am more than capable of walking on my own merit. Asshole." She hissed at the guard on her arm. He let go, not wanting to make things worse, having orders not to harm them.
"Follow me." He instead instructed.
They were both led to the bridge, and they stood before Marcus. "Well well, my daughters. It's high time you met formally." He held his hands open, as Carols jaw dropped.
"But, daddy..." She began. She looked back and forth between Safiya and her father. "Why didn't you ever...?" She began, unable to fathom. "But, what about mum?" She choked.
"It wasn't my proudest moment, Carol, understand, but here, Safiya was born from my indiscretions, and she too, is my child just as much as you are." He held his hand up in explanation.
"Don't worry Carol, you will still be daddys little girl. That is a title I have no interest in stealing from you." Safiya held her arms across her chest, leaning against the back of the pilots chair.
"How long have you known?" She demanded, her voice getting higher.
"I've known since I was a child. My mother never lied to me about him. I never believed it until I found he barred me early entry. It gave him enough time for the statute of limitations to pass for his indecency." She threw a glare at Marcus.
"Yeah, but if it weren't for me, you would have never gotten into 8." Marcus sneered.
Carol looked back and forth, confused. "What is 8, dad?" Looking at her newfound sister with fear.
"Section 31 is like the secret service of Star Fleet." He began, tracing a stray pattern on the arm of his captains chair. "8, is more deep cover, a level of secrecy that very few people even know about." He gave a knowing look to Safiya. She made no move to deny his accusations.
"Wait, you would do that for her, but you wouldn't even let me in on this project?" Carol stammered angrily.
Before she could speak again, the door to the bridge burst open, sending Khan, Scotty and Kim storming in. The admiral was clearly beyond agitated at the point.
"I'm glad youre here Khan, I think there is something you should hear about your little sweetheart." Marcus laughed awfully. "The girl you've been sleeping with, Khan, my daughter, has something interesting to tell you about who she really is."
"Khan, it isn't what you think. I promise." She tried to recover herself, hoping he wouldn't totally hate her, but Scotty stunned him before she could do so. Khan fell to the floor, but Safiya was not sure he was totally out.
Jim was looking back between the two women and their father. "Wait, you mean... You... these two are yours?" He couldn't comprehend. They all nodded.
"Well, then I hate to do this in front of your daughters, but, you sir are under arrest for your crimes." He ordered, trying to stick to the point.
The admiral, of course, was in no mood to willingly turn himself over. "You'll have to drag my cold dead body out of this chair, boy." He growled.
"Careful Father, I just might do that for him." Safiya snarled, challenging her fathers threat. "I suggest you accept your fate. The way I see it, you have two options. You can either die here on your ship, or you can face the council."
Marcus' eyes darkened. "You would turn in your own father? After everything I have done to help your career? You wouldn't be HALF the woman you are today if it weren't for me!" He yelled, gripping the arms of his chair. "Everything that I have done."
"Yes, everything that you have done. Leaving me and my mother, then attempting to use her as leverage to get me to agree to being on this project." Safiya was pacing in front of him now, Khan laying still at her feet. "Then you sent Addams after me, father, how shameful."
"Thats a DAMN lie and you know it you little brat!" He stood up, pointing lividly at her.
"Bullshit! I never told ANYBODY who came after me! Not even the doctor who saw me! NOBODY knew save for one person." She squatted down, grabbing Khan by the hair to show the admiral his face. "One man knew who it was. It also doesn't hurt he clued me in on your admission." She set his head back down, and resumed her pacing. "You sent him to scare me away from Khan." She simpered.
"Well, little Safiya, so grown up, able to stand up to daddy, learn the truth. Since we are revealing all here, I'll fill you in." Marcus was back in his chair, the two now completely ignoring the rest of the bridge. "Khan is MY project, MY investment, and here you were getting too close, trying to take him away from me to take back to 8. I couldn't have that. Yes, I wanted you on my project to be close to you, have you under my command for once, but I see now that was a mistake. You think you are the only computer savvy person here in the fleet? Please, girl, you aren't the best. But you were enough to get the information I needed from Khan and his ship. It wasn't until after I paired you two together, that it came to my attention that you were supposed to be investigating him for 8. Addams, a fellow 8, told me all about it, and we struck a deal, yes, but it was to get you away from him. In the end, Khan eliminates Addams, and so I decided to let this play out, see where it would lead me. Good thing, since it was easy to lure him off of Kronos with you."
There, it was out. Her own father had sent a man to abuse her body. Perhaps it was a twinge of guilt in Addams heart that didn't let him go all the way that night. Khan had exacted his revenge. Forced to live his life as a vegetable, a shell of a man, neither dead or alive. But what does the Admiral care? He didn't have Addams as incriminating evidence anymore, and it led to Khans rather peaceful capture.
Had Jim knew the whole story in the beginning, he probably would have looked at Khan differently, though the sting of Admiral Pikes death still pained him greatly. It was a tough situation for Jim, but he knew before anything, that Khan and Marcus would both stand trial for the roles they played.
Khan moved quickly to disarm Scotty, having been aware for longer than he let on. "Here is what we are going to do." He growled. He hailed the Enterprise, as Spock spoke to him. "You will return my crew... and I will return yours." Spock weighed his options, hearing Khans plan on how he would kill the crew of the Enterprise. Spock, however, was confident, and agreed, allowing Khan to have the torpedoes.
Jim found himself on the Enterprise once more, just him, Scotty and Carol, no Safiya, no Marcus. He yelled at himself, should have having seen it. That he would have kept someone. The information of Admiral Marcus and of Safiyas true identity was nearly too much to take in. He made his way to the bridge to resume command, when Bones raced past him.
"Spock! We've got a huge problem! The cryotubes! They're gone!"
A/N: Sorry if this seems a little rushed. I am coming to the end of the story soon, and more will be revealed about Safiya, don't worry. It may seem kinda scattered right now, and sorry for that, but hopefully, loose ends shall be tied soon.